Cycle 5 – Item 81

 27 (Thu) March 2014

Gazpacho

4.0

by CAL

in her apartment

-Ermita, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines-

with CAL, ME, KK, TL, C + JR, et al.

CAL invited friends from the office over to her place this evening for dinner, which she had prepared.

CAL is Spanish.

I was totally geeked out to be one of the chosen few.  For me, the occasion was the first time eating home-cooked Spanish cuisine, cooked by a Spaniard, at home.

Tortilla is a Spanish dish.  It’s a thick egg omelette with potatoes (tortilla de patatas), often onions (tortilla española), cooked in a deep pan.  Cut into wedges or cubes, served as a tapa, appetizer, or main course.  The term is Spanish, meaning “small (illa) cake (torta).”  A Spanish staple.  Not to be confused with the flat flour/corn tortillas common in Mexican or Central American cuisine.

Gazpacho is a Spanish dish.  It’s a soup consisting of tomatoes and other veggies (e.g., onion, garlic, cucumber, bell pepper), traditionally ground smooth with a mortar and pestle, now typically blended in a food processor, along with various spices and olive oil, served cold.  A classic.

Beyond expectation, the food was amazing.  For starters, she laid out plates of different hams and cheese that she’d bought and brought from Spain – the real deal.  She then made tortillas, gazpacho, and seafood & pork rice – a complete meal.  Hands down, the gazpacho was my favorite dish of the evening: the tomatoes bright and zesty, perfectly balanced, the sea salt sprinkled on top providing bursts of flavor with each bite.  But everything was awesome.  Thanks, CAL!

To up the odds of being invited back, I gotta hurry up and invite people over to my place, including and especially CAL – in public health, this what we call a “targeted intervention” – for some home-cooked Korean food.  Dinner party karma.

(See also BOOZE)

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)